Lionel Messi is one win from leading Argentina to a record 16th Copa America title. Colombia will do everything in its power to make sure that doesn’t happen in a matchup that pits the juggernaut against the surging force in the final.
Group stages
Paired in Group A with Canada, Chile and Peru, the defending champion opened its campaign with a 2-0 win against Canada, with Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez registering their name on the scoresheet.
In the next match against Chile, the Albiceleste faced a tough challenge and scraped through with a 1-0 win after Lautaro found the net late in the 88th minute. With the win, Scaloni’s men became the first team to book a place in the knockouts.
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In its final group match against Peru, where Messi did not play due to injury, Argentina again clinched an easy 2-0 win. Lautaro grabbed a brace after scoring in the 47th and 86th minute, respectively. This made him the top scorer of the tournament with five goals.
Argentina finished the group stage without conceding a single goal.
Quarterfinal
Argentina faced its most challenging opponent in this edition of the Copa America in the quarterfinal as it clashed against Ecuador. Lisandro Martinez scored his first goal in national colours to give the Albiceleste a lead in the 35th minute. Scaloni’s men held on to their slender lead for a long time, surviving a barrage of attacks. Argentina finally succumbed and conceded its first goal of the tournament when Kevin Rodriguez headed in the equalizer in second-half stoppage time to send the match to penalties.
The defending champion did not have the best start to the shootout as captain Messi attempted a panenka and missed his spot-kick with the ball clipping the crossbar. However, Emi Martinez did what he does best. He kept the scores level after saving Angel Mina’s shot. Julian Alvarez converted the next spot-kick for Argentina and gained a lead when Martinez made his second save on the trot after keeping out Alan Minda. Alexis Mac Allister and Gonzalo Montiel scored their respective penalties for Argentina and so did John Yeboah and Jordy Caicedo.
It was down to Nicolas Otamendi to convert the deciding kick and he did that in style after finding the net with a well-placed shot in the bottom left corner to send his team to the semifinals after a 4-2 win on penalties.
Semifinal
Argentina faced Canada again in the semifinal and won by the same margin from their opening match of the tournament.
Alvarez opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and Messi doubled the lead in the 51st minute, thus scoring his first goal in the tournament. With that goal, he took his international goals tally to 109, surpassing Ali Daei as the second-highest international goalscorer in history. Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal tops the list with 130 strikes for his country.
If Argentina beats Colombia in the final, it will win a record 16th title and surpass Uruguay’s tally, with who, it is not joint-second.
